National briefs

Final offers were due on Friday for
Ric Stowe
’s Griffin Coal business, which collapsed this year. The sale of the tycoon’s coal and power assets, due to be completed by February, has attracted interest from Indian companies, according to industry sources. Companies looking to export some of Griffin’s coal have been in negotiations to secure port space in Western Australia, where Stowe’s assets are located. Griffin Coal collapsed in January with almost $1 billion in debt. Peter Kerr.

NSW Opposition Leader
Barry
O’Farrell called on the Labor government to promise it won’t shred documents between now and the March 26 election without approval from the Ombudsman or Auditor-General. “There has been a flurry of activity in the lead-up to the election and my concern is they may seek to remove evidence of political decision-making," Mr O’Farrell said. NSW Premier
Kristina Keneally
said she had issued advice to government ministers about their conduct during the caretaker period and no documents would go missing. Lisa Murray

Japan Foreign Minister Seiji Maehara will visit Australia on Tuesday for talks with Prime Minister
Julia Gillard
and Foreign Minister
Kevin Rudd
. The talks are expected to focus on economic and trade links, as well as tensions over Japanese whaling in the Southern Ocean.

John Kerin

The number of weight-loss procedures in Australia has soared over a decade, a study shows, highlighting the country’s growing struggle with obesity. Admittances to hospital for procedures such as gastric banding rose to 17,000 in 2008 from 500 in 1998, the Australian Institute of Health and Welfare said. Women accounted for four in five of the operations. More than two-thirds of Australian men and 55 per cent of women are overweight or obese, according to the report. Bloomberg